Friday February 10, 2023 | COLWOOD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
This morning, staff at Wishart Elementary School in Colwood detected an odour in the upper level of the school.
“Following procedure, students and staff evacuated the building and calls were made to the appropriate responders,” says SD62 communications rep Kristen McGillivray.
Fortis BC, the Colwood Fire Department and SD62 facilities staff attended and investigated.
Colwood Fire Dept on scene:
Lieutenant Kyle Smith of the Colwood Fire Department said that their fire truck which attended the call ran its sirens on the short drive from the fire hall at Wishart and Metchosin Road.
That’s because it’s a populated area, and the situation was considered an emergency until it was not.
The school is a short distance away along Wishart Road, at 3310 Wishart Road across the way from Colwood City Hall in what is otherwise a suburban residential area.
Lt Smith said it was precautionary to evacuate the school. “The order came in as ‘odour present in the school’, but FortisBC did not find any readings,” he said.
Waiting outdoors:
After an orderly gathering of things (like coats and back packs), the students went outside. They waited about 30 to 40 minutes in a relatively mild winter temperature; the high today was 9°C under clear blue skies.
Safe re-entry:
The school was cleared by Fortis BC and the Colwood Fire Department and deemed safe for re-entry.
Staff and students resumed their day in the school as scheduled.
Wishart Elementary has about 450 students and 60 staff.
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends emerged in mid-2020 from a preceding series of publications by founder/editor Mary P Brooke and published by Brookeline Publishing House Inc, covering news of the Vancouver Island region, BC and national issues through a socioeconomic lens.
The publication series began with MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), then morphed to a weekly print newspaper Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and then into the weekly PDF/print West Shore Voice News (2014-2020). The news at IslandSocialTrends.ca (2020 to present) is entirely online.
Mary Brooke was a trustee candidate in the SD62 Belmont Zone (Langford, Colwood, Highlands, Metchosin) in the October 2022 election.
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